Nov 30, 2021 09:29 PM
Chip shortage threatens Biden’s electric vehicle plans, commerce secretary says
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...tary-says/
INTRO: Building support for a congressional bill to take on China, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said yesterday that automakers’ grand electric vehicle plans are imperiled by the ongoing shortage of computer semiconductors.
“The average electric vehicle has about 2,000 chips, roughly double the average number of chips in a non-electric car,” Raimondo said in prepared remarks to the Detroit Economic Club, a nonprofit business group located in Michigan’s automotive hub.
“As companies like Ford and GM compete to grab a foothold in the electric vehicle market, we know that innovation in the American battery market will be stifled if we aren’t also investing in domestic semiconductor innovation at the same time,” Raimondo said.
Prior to the speech, Raimondo also told reporters that Biden’s plans for half of new vehicles to be electric by 2030 depends on the U.S. investing in semiconductor production. “That’s necessary for our American economic competitiveness, it’s necessary if we’re going to meet our climate change goals, and it’s necessary to create jobs,” she told The Detroit News.
The secretary’s Michigan visit was intended to drum up support for a $52 billion legislative package to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry... (MORE)
Study: Sound improves detection of electric cars for pedestrians
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/11...638287948/
INTRO: Electric vehicles are quiet enough to create a safety concern, particularly for visually impaired pedestrians, even with artificial sounds implemented, a study presented Tuesday during the Acoustical Society of America meeting in Seattle found.
In the analysis, in which participants were asked to push a button upon hearing an approaching electric vehicle on an adjacent roadway, none of the tested vehicles achieved a 100% detection rate, the data showed.
However, artificial sounds added to the vehicles improved detection ranges -- or the distance at which they could be heard -- and all of those tested exceeded current National Highway Transportation Safety Administration minimum standards, the researchers said.
"While the additive sounds greatly improve detection distances over the no sound condition, there are cases where pedestrians still missed detections," study co-author Michael Roan said in a press release.
"However, there were cases where probability of detection, even at close ranges, never reached 100%," said Roan, an associate professor of mechanical engineering Virginia Tech University.
Even after adding sound, electric vehicles are typically quieter than standard internal combustion engine vehicles, research suggests.
As electric vehicles become more common on roadways, there have been numerous reports of injuries to visually impaired persons, who rely on sound to detect oncoming cars.
To address this issue, many countries have enacted laws requiring manufacturers to add artificial sounds to their vehicles to provide an additional means of detection, according to Roan and his colleagues... (MORE)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...tary-says/
INTRO: Building support for a congressional bill to take on China, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said yesterday that automakers’ grand electric vehicle plans are imperiled by the ongoing shortage of computer semiconductors.
“The average electric vehicle has about 2,000 chips, roughly double the average number of chips in a non-electric car,” Raimondo said in prepared remarks to the Detroit Economic Club, a nonprofit business group located in Michigan’s automotive hub.
“As companies like Ford and GM compete to grab a foothold in the electric vehicle market, we know that innovation in the American battery market will be stifled if we aren’t also investing in domestic semiconductor innovation at the same time,” Raimondo said.
Prior to the speech, Raimondo also told reporters that Biden’s plans for half of new vehicles to be electric by 2030 depends on the U.S. investing in semiconductor production. “That’s necessary for our American economic competitiveness, it’s necessary if we’re going to meet our climate change goals, and it’s necessary to create jobs,” she told The Detroit News.
The secretary’s Michigan visit was intended to drum up support for a $52 billion legislative package to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry... (MORE)
Study: Sound improves detection of electric cars for pedestrians
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/11...638287948/
INTRO: Electric vehicles are quiet enough to create a safety concern, particularly for visually impaired pedestrians, even with artificial sounds implemented, a study presented Tuesday during the Acoustical Society of America meeting in Seattle found.
In the analysis, in which participants were asked to push a button upon hearing an approaching electric vehicle on an adjacent roadway, none of the tested vehicles achieved a 100% detection rate, the data showed.
However, artificial sounds added to the vehicles improved detection ranges -- or the distance at which they could be heard -- and all of those tested exceeded current National Highway Transportation Safety Administration minimum standards, the researchers said.
"While the additive sounds greatly improve detection distances over the no sound condition, there are cases where pedestrians still missed detections," study co-author Michael Roan said in a press release.
"However, there were cases where probability of detection, even at close ranges, never reached 100%," said Roan, an associate professor of mechanical engineering Virginia Tech University.
Even after adding sound, electric vehicles are typically quieter than standard internal combustion engine vehicles, research suggests.
As electric vehicles become more common on roadways, there have been numerous reports of injuries to visually impaired persons, who rely on sound to detect oncoming cars.
To address this issue, many countries have enacted laws requiring manufacturers to add artificial sounds to their vehicles to provide an additional means of detection, according to Roan and his colleagues... (MORE)